I first met Meghan in 2018 in my role as a royal correspondent and immediately liked her – she was a strong, independent woman who had grafted to build her own career as an actor and influencer (via her former blog The Tig).
Very certain of her own public image, initially she seemed to wholeheartedly embrace the philanthropic possibilities and reach of the royal family’s global platform. Prior to her wedding, at a Royal Foundation Forum, she said, ‘Women don’t need to find their voice. They need to feel empowered to use it and people need to be encouraged to listen.’
Many of us (career women the same age as Meghan) punched the air in agreement but also wondered how she would deal with the mental tightrope act of being a fully-fledged feminist while also enjoying an unparalleled position in high society purely because she’d married well. I saw her rejection of the pressure, constraints and often outdated expectations of the royal family (particularly the women) as a manifestation of her Millennial girlboss feminism.
So, it’s strange to see her leaning into the ‘trad wife’ lifestyle in her new Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, giving tips on how to be the hostess with the mostest. Of course there’s joy to be had in jam-making, baking, flower arranging and making everything look pretty – and being a homemaker and a feminist certainly aren’t mutually exclusive – but it does feel at odds with her former branding.
I wonder whether the ‘softer’ image she is portraying in With Love, Meghan, and on her re-launched Instagram account, is partly to counteract negativity in the influential American press. Initially, in 2022 the Sussexes were lauded by the US talk shows, magazines and pundits as royal rule breakers, telling their truth to Oprah Winfrey. Yet polling earlier this year by Newsweek showed a huge drop in their popularity, The Wall Street Journal reported they were ditched by Spotify as they ‘did not meet productivity targets’ and the pair were later branded ‘grifters’ by a senior executive.
Their predicament was summed up by Variety: ‘Harry and Meghan would have you believe they are about so much more than their own story. Their game plan has always been “Come for the sob story, stay for the high-minded uplift.” But that’s a shaky strategy for keeping an audience around that probably doesn’t care about anything either of them has to say that isn’t royal gossip.’
Perhaps most reputationally damaging were reports by The Hollywood Reporter, and earlier this year Vanity Fair, that reignited bullying claims against Meghan (which she has always denied), that were first reported by The Times.
Whatever your opinion on the claims, the copious stories (that the couple call ‘distressing’) make it increasingly difficult for Meghan and Harry to rebuild their brand. And so, back to the five-year multimilliondollar deal with Netflix. Alongside her new show we are awaiting the launch of a range of homeware and lifestyle products from As Ever (formerly known as American Riviera Orchard) that will be sold in Netflix’s new bricks-and-mortar merch stores and As Ever’s Shopify store online. Regardless of the savage reviews, Meghan’s ‘Martha Stewart’ reinvention could still be lucrative and, if another season is commissioned, she will have the last laugh. Let’s see if the ‘trad wife’ gamble pays off.